This was my last trip of the 2013 Faces & Places tour, and I was feeling more than a little sentimental about turning in my TravelKS van keys and packing away the official polo shirts. My grandma mentioned the other evening, "You ought to know Kansas pretty well by now," and you would think that I would feel the same. Yet Kansas manages to surprise me every single time, and my trip to Columbus and the towns along US Route 66 was no exception.

The Mother Road....Mater, Lightning, Sarge and Flo....the Will Rogers Highway....whatever brings this road to mind, Route 66 is an iconic highway that travels from Chicago to Los Angeles. Once the major thoroughfare that connected much of our country, this two-lane road has turned into a destination rather than a way to get to the next stop.

In the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas lies Cherokee County, the only county in the state that can lay claim to 13.2 miles of Old Route 66. Established in 1926, the two-lane road originally stretched from Chicago to Los Angeles and became famous for the unique communities along “Route 66.”